As a member of the Forbes Wealth team, I've spent countless hours poring over the SEC filings and public records of the billionaires of the Forbes 400. I've valued private companies from gypsum producers to the world's largest restaurant chain and interviewed some of America's most successful entrepreneurs. We're all chasing the dream; I'm here to remind you that some people make it.

Who Got Rich This Week: A 3D Printer Maker, A High Tech Bookseller And More

Each week at Forbes we scan our database of corporate insiders to see who got richer from the action in the stock market. A flat week was turned by a steep sell off on Wednesday afternoon as Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke testified before Congress on the current state of the American economy. When he hinted that the central bank could potentially begin to slow its bond buying pace before the end of the year, stock prices fell, yields on 10 year Treasury notes rose and gold dove back below $1,400 per ounce. Though economic observers have reason to believe the American economy can stand on its own, the market rally has been largely Fed driven to date, climbing a mountain of liquidity since March of 2009. As traders took profits at the first sign the party might be coming to an end, very few people struck it rich this week. Here, a sampling of a few who did better than most:

Books

Despite being built on the twin dying technologies of big box retailing and the printed word, Barnes & Noble soldiers on, with shares recently changing hands north of $23 for the first time since 2010. But is a conventional book dealer what Barnes & Noble really is? Rumor has it that to Microsoft the bookseller is primarily a technology company, and one that would be worth paying $1 billion for. For much of the past year, it has been talk of Barnes & Noble’s Nook Media division that has driven the price of the company’s shares, in both directions. Of late, the trend has been decidedly up as Microsoft is apparently considering a billion dollar bid for the 82% of the Nook business that it does not currently own. Speculation is just that, but as the grumblings persisted the company’s stock rose 10.8% on the week. For chairman Leonard Riggio, who founded Barnes & Noble in 1986, all the chatter has also meant big money. His nearly 15.8 million shares were worth $349.5 million at Friday’s close. The amount represents an increase of $34.1 million over the week prior, and an increase of $129.4 million over little more than a year ago, when we first took note of Redmond’s involvement in the Nook business and Riggio’s expanding wealth in this column.

Additive Indeed

3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing, is hot these days. It’s a seemingly futuristic technology that is so literally creative that the media can’t help themselves but to obsess over it. Though the technology has been around for years, making anything you want out of thin air just by hitting print is indeed an exciting concept. And when you combine that process with the explosive debate over firearms control that has dominated political cable programs since December of last year, you get something truly newsworthy. In addition to giving everyone something to talk about, 3D printing is also making a select cadre of individuals extremely wealthy. Among them is S. Kent Rockwell, a venture capitalist who has had his hand in many different industries over the years, from defense contracting to timber to oilfield supply. He now serves as chairman and CEO of the ExOne Company, a manufacturing outfit that builds 3D printers. Based outside of Pittsburgh, the company went public in February for $18 per share. At Friday’s close a share of ExOne cost $45, an increase of 150% in just three and a half months. At that price, Rockwell’s more than 4.9 million ExOne shares are worth $221.9 million, up $21.7 million in the last week alone as the stock rose 10.8% and up $133.1 million since the IPO.

The Really Rich

The big news this week amongst the 50 international billionaires whose wealth Forbes tracks in real time was that Microsoft founder and chairman Bill Gates officially overtook Mexican telecom magnate Carlos Slim Helu as the richest man on the planet. Gates closed the week worth nearly $7o billion, while Slim came in at just under $68 billion. The gap between the two is relatively narrow, but becomes more impressive upon the realization that Gates had given away $28 billion over the course of his life at our last count, while Slim had parted with just $4 billion. Friday went as much of the last week did for these two tycoons, as the value of Slim’s publicly traded holdings fell by $2.01 billion on the session, making him the biggest loser on the day by far. Bill Gates locked in a modest $48.7 million gain as his positions rose by a collective .29%. Behind Slim in second place amongst the losers was independent deal maker Carl Icahn. The shares of his publicly traded Icahn Enterprises LPIcahn Enterprises LP lost 6.32% of their value as Icahn sought $7 billion in financing to make a run at DellDell Inc, subtracting $499.2 million from his net worth. No one made more money on Friday than the four richest members of the Walton clan. Together they netted $1.28 billion as Wal-Mart shares advanced 1.28%.

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